Three F1 Drivers Make it to Forbes Top Earners’ List

Forbes released their 2018 list of the top 100 highest-paid athletes in the world and as was expected, three F1 drivers and world champions make an appearance on the list. The three mentioned are Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso.

Among the three mentioned, Lewis Hamilton is at he top-most pedestal, coming in at No.12. His retainer of $42m from Mercedes and personal endorsement deals worth $9m enable him to clinch that position.

On No. 18 is German Sebastian Vettel, who earns $42.3m a year, driving for the Maranello-based Ferrari F1 team. Though he earns roughly the same retainer fees as rival Hamilton, the reason he finds himself 6 places down is because his personal endorsement deals stand at a measly $300K as compared to the $9m earned by Lewis.

McLaren’s Fernando Alonso is the last of the current F1 drivers to make it to the top-100 earners list, with his $32m payout and endorsement deals amounting to $1m helping him write his name on the coveted list.

The top earning athlete according to Forbes is boxer, Floyd Mayweather, who earned a jaw-dropping $285m last year, all in one appearance in that much-hyped game against Irishman, Connor McGregor. To make it even more astonishing, he spent just 36 minutes in the ring to earn the dough.

Unsurprisingly, football legends, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were listed at No.2 and No.3 on the list with them earning $111m and $108m respectively over the past year.

The minimum an athlete needs to earn to be considered for the list is $22.9m in the last year and the honour of being the 100 guy on the list goes to basketball player Nicolas Batum, who plies his trade for the Charlotte Hornets.

Once again, the disparity in pay between male and female athletes was very evident as no woman athlete made it the top 100 earners’ list.